Highs and Lows

Somewhere or other I keep promising to update, but I've become really inconsistent and can't seem to drag myself in to write, though I try to keep up and read the bloggings of my friends.

I've been reading -a book even- and have enjoyed that in a way I haven't in a long time. Having airport SNAFUS that caused us to be traveling 12 hours and through North Carolina en route from Albany to Chicago, a flight that usually takes under 2 hours, helped that along.

My Dad is declining, noticeable even in the month since my last visit. There are many happy, memorable moments tucked away though, and the reconnection with my brother during the many hours we spent together was a wonderful bonus.

As a family reconnecting, lots of talks were had, lots of decisions were made, lots of plans put into action. We saw their family attorney and they will go back on Friday to read and sign everything he'll have legally drafted up by then.

On a personal note, climbing back into the womb is an awesome thing. I even felt physically better while there. I don't know if it was the bed there, being away from work, or being an adult in the presence of my parents, or having Daddy adore me and Mom turn to me, or the absence of you-know-who adding unbelievable stress to my life (I'll pick all of the above) but even my back felt better; not once was I on a heating pad.
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StW is having eye surgery this afternoon to cauterize some bleeders in the retina due to his Diabetes.
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D turned 18 on Saturday. At 12:05 AM he celebrated by buying his first legal pack of cigarettes. Presumably sometime during daylight he got his lip pierced. This is apparently the adulthood he'd been looking forward to.
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W is buying a new condo in Chicago.
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J enjoyed his break and caught up with his old friends in NY, some of whom traveled a bit to get there to see him. He spent a lot of time with A and we all got to meet her baby, now 6 months old.
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April will be a weird month and I'm sure I won't get to NY. BossFroc is going on vacation for 2 nonconsecutive weeks and Ethel is going out on leave to have surgery and will likely be gone about 2 months. I have hired both a Medical Assistant and a Receptionist, but that means lots of training in a very short time. I see lots of work hours in the near future, lots of on call time too.
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51 feels no different than 50, and inside neither feel different than 25. (If only the damn mirror and scale would lie!) Spring thus far feels no different than winter either.

Last night I finished the first season of In Treatment and wonder what they have planned, if anything, next.

Okay, an update in the can, now back to work.
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UPDATE:

StW's surgery went fine. The other eye gets done in two weeks.

My brother is awesome. He stepped up to the plate, made the decision to play, set boundaries, and I know HE will stick to them. He will be doing the POA thing. It'll be hard for my parents, Dad especially, at first, but I hope they'll come to accept that Ger's way of cleaning up the (financial) mess and liquidating is the right way. We were all on the same page last week, but we have a feeling that as words turn to action it won't be as easy as it sounds.

Oh, and I may have gotten a speeding ticket while we were heading to the airport to catch a plane that never left the ground!
I'll bet J was glad I was driving!